There’ve been some renovations recently, the ground got a 5 star rating from UEFA and can host the CL final now.
I agree with you about O’Donnell, but he’s just the most unfit footballer ever. He’s physically incapable of going 30 minutes without getting himself crocked… He makes Jamie Redknapp look like Superman.
Does the Calderón still have signs pointing the way to the “Vomitorium”?
The way they’ve been playing in recent games, I think they’ll be needed. No wins in 7 games, chances of a UEFA cup spot receding, just lost to Alaves at home…
I don’t know, actually. They might be… I haven’t actually been there for a couple of years. I’m too far away. Planning a few visits next season, when I’ll be back in Europe permanently.
Getting back to the OP, because I’m feeling bad for this hijack… There’ll be a couple of interesting games in the premier league today, if you can catch them, with both West Ham and Bolton battling for their lives. Watching crap teams battle for their lives to avoid relegation isn’t something you get in American sports. (To be fair, neither West Ham nor Bolton are actually crap, they’ve both been very good in recent weeks, and neither deserve to go down). Liverpool v Chelsea is another good one, with both teams battling to get into the Champions League next season.
… and up in Scotland there’s Rangers v Kilmarnock, with the former fighting for the league title and the latter for the UEFA Cup spot. C’mon the Killie.
Bah. Thanks for turning up, Killie :mad:
Anyway, here is a decent explanation for the uninitiated of how important that UEFA Cup Final is to us.
I can’t speak for the Germans, and I don’t have any stats to back this up, but my perception is that in England at least there’s an even split between fans who are prepared to cheer any team from the “home” country in European competition and those taking the “over my dead body” approach. You can put me in the second category. The TV guys always talk as though they assume that we’re all backing the home country’s team, although I suspect they know the truth.
Of course it gets really amusing when they suddenly discover a Scottish team to support when there are no English ones available. The Scots love that.
Maybe that’s another idea for picking a team to support in a foreign land – go for the underdog.
Don’t support Bayern Münich*, choose 1860 Münich instead, go for St. Pauli instead of Hertha Berlin or VfL Bochum instead of Borussia Dortmund, in Spain choose Atlético or Rayo instead of Real Madrid, or Espanyol instead of Barcelona, in Portugal try Setúbal instead of Benfica or Sporting Lisbon, in Holland go for Sparta Rotterdam instead of Feyenoord, or Chievo instead of anyone in Italy, or support Tranmere Rovers instead of Liverpool, Sheffield Wednesday instead of United** ;), or Leyton Orient instead of Arsenal. Actually scratch that last one – you can take it too far.
*As I understand it English-speakers say Bayern Münich instead of Bayern München because they don’t realise “Bayern” means “Bavarian”.
**No offence, sc913, I used to live in Sheffield and still own a house there. Although I have friends who support both teams I used to go to Hillsborough more often – blue and white stripes have to preferable to read and white.
St Pauli are from Hamburg, everton.
And I actually know a born-and-bred Dubliner who supports Leyton Orient. Can’t for the life of me remember why, though.
I have no stats either, but I’d be surprised if the overwhelming majority of Celtic and Rangers fans didn’t fall into the latter category where the other team was concerned. Even the argument that one club’s European success would benefit the other club by increasing Scotland’s coefficient (can some anorak please explain this because I’m far too hungover to do so) won’t really sway us - it’s just impossible for us to cheer for them, ever, and vice versa.
However my understanding is that if we win the Cup there will be a third Champions League spot for Scotland. As this is the only realistic hope any of the other Scottish clubs have for ever getting into the Champions League, I’m sure some of their fans will support us who mightn’t otherwise.
I have to put my hand up and say that I’m one of those football fans who will support any British team against those wily foreigners. (you know, the ones that throw themselves down on the ground after a light tackle 
)
I think the reason is straightforward, my own team is very unlikely to be participating in European games, so I’m used to having to transfer my loyalty occasionally. I support Swansea above all others if they are involved, and they have been involved in European competition in the distant past, but now I have to be more generous in my support, and spread it around a little.
If there’s a match on the television for instance I have to pick one to support, it just makes it more interesting. I have an inbuilt preference system that even I don’t understand.
V
Oops, that was a bad error wasn’t it? Actually, no it was a very good error – I hereby declare that I have never been to St. Pauli and have no idea what sort of place it is 
*.
I can’t disguise my disappointment at the outcome of today’s results, btw.
Most people I know believed that mid-table is the least we should have managed last season, so with the key improvements David Moyes has made to the squad and his total overhaul of training methods and coaching it hasn’t surprised me that we’ve wasted no time among the dead men this season. Of course I’d have to admit that I never expected European qualification, though.
Missing out on an extra competition next season won’t bother me too much because it’s so tiring to play extra games and do all the extra travelling and other clubs have found the burden too much to bear with a thin squad (Fulham and Ipswich have both come unstuck recently adding a European competition to the domestic one). The money is in the Champs League anyway. But the players deserve a tangible reward for what they’ve done this season, and I’m quite bitter to have missed out narrowly, especially to Blackburn, who haven’t impressed me and who we’ve battered home and away (whatever the narrow scorelines might suggest).
Since I’ve got friends who support Sunderland and West Ham I’ve got plenty of commiserating to do in the coming week. I believe that Birmingham, Aston Villa and Fulham all made a poorer case for survival than either Bolton or West Ham, and there must be something wrong if either Jay Jay Okocha or Paolo Di Canio get relegated. But more than anything I glad it’s not my problem.
At least I can hold my head up amongst the Arsenal fans and say we tried our best for you, and that Man United fans know they’ve been in a couple of hard game against us this year for a change.
*It makes Las Vegas look like Salt Lake City in case you didn’t know.
One good reason to support any English team in European competitions is that it helps the overall EU rating of every other team in the English leagues.
Here is an explanation of how this is achieved.
http://www.eurofootsie.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Footie&file=description
Here are the ratings,
http://www.eurofootsie.com/index.php
My guess is that betting organisations needed some way of ranking all the European clubs who were likely to get a chance to play in the big European competitions, but then it’s usefulness was latched on to by UEFA itself to decide how playoff groups should be organised.
It is a matter of commercial importance that the big money generating teams in Europe do not get knocked out of these tournaments too early or huge numbers of fans will lose interest.
By ranking these clubs it is possible to ensure that the big teams are more likely to meet in the later stages, and less so in the earlier stages.
Each European nation football federation has a certain mumber of EU competion places available to their teams but of course some leagues are very much more competitive than others, and some leagues are far bigger money spinners than others.
For instance, although Wales is entitled to send a team or two, even the best of them is nothing like as strong as the weakest of say the Italian candidates.
The EU ranking of teams ensures that these relative minnows that bring less money into UEFA’s coffers will soon be exiting the tournaments, but it does give thise small teams a shot at glory and glamour.
If the teams belonging to English leagues do very well in European tournaments then they obviously get rated higher in the EU standings, but it has the knock on effect of increasing the rating of all those clubs in the English domestic leagues, after all if say Man U get beaten by say Tottenham then it is argued that one of the best clubs in Europe have been beaten and the team that did so should be rated accordingly.
If you look at those Euro ratings you will see that there are six Spanish clubs in the top ten and this is partly an effect of them having to play the European champions during their own domestic season several times.